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PROOF(1) TeX Typesetting Tools PROOF(1)
NAME
proof - a simple but smart editor interface to common TeX,
LaTeX, METAFONT and MetaPost processing tasks
SYNOPSIS
proof [-P] [-abfp123xyzs] [-u routine] file
proof -T file
proof [-hv]
DESCRIPTION
Proof is a shell based auxiliary program that's able to
process and view TeX, LaTeX, METAFONT and MetaPost sources
and thus can be used to quickly produce snapshots of TeX
related documents whenever necessary. Its main purpose
however is to act as a completion to an ordinary word pro-
cessing program which normally lacks appropriate facili-
ties to process TeX sources within a common TeX/LaTeX
environment. Here, Proof completely relieves the author of
doing shell related work and thus simplifies the process
of preparing PostScript/PDF documents particularly in
those cases where various different sources are involved.
Besides Proof offers a handy control mechanism that may be
accessed from within the editor being used, an interface
to common METAFONT font test algorithms and a simple back-
up facility ensuring that sourcefiles can easily be
restored when accidentally overwritten or deleted. For
further information on how to use this program see section
EXAMPLE please.
OPTIONS
-P Enter preview mode - Use this option to start Proof
in its preview mode. When given on the commandline,
the file referred to is periodically checked
whether changes were made. If this is the case,
Proof will attempt to compile your document and
subsequently call the viewer to show its current
state. This previewing facility is completed by
other TeX related features you may select by
including one or more of the following options in
your command:
-a Leave auxiliary files untouched - Auxiliary
files like .aux, .log, .idx and so on are
normally deleted when Proof terminates. This
option switches off this default behaviour.
-b Create back-up file - Each time Proof termi-
nates, it creates a new back-up copy of the
current sourcefile. Alternatively you can
use Walter Tichy's "Revision Control System"
(RCS) to save your document, which might be
useful when editing larger documents. (see
your .proofrc file for further information
on RCS please)
-f Use formatfile mylatex - A suitable format-
file can be obtained by running initex over
the current LaTeX source. ("initex \&latex
mylatex.ltx sourcefile" should work properly
on most platforms.) The newly created for-
matfile mylatex should then be moved to the
appropriate location in order to make it
accessible to Proof. (see your .proofrc file
on where this is) Alternatively you may have
Proof create a formatfile of your own, which
is the default behaviour if the -f option is
set and a suitable formatfile is not yet
available.
-p Use PostScript-Type-1-fonts - Selects
PostScript-Type-1-fonts to process dvi-
files. The default is to use TeX's own font
family Computer Modern. (This option is in
effect only if you use Tomas Rokicki's
'dvips' driver to process dvi-files!)
-n METAFONT proofing mode n, where n can be 1,
2 or 3 - This option takes effect only when
processing METAFONT files. In this case it
serves to select one out of three possible
methods sourcecode is processed and viewed.
Just try out which method fits best to your
needs.
-x Generate dvi-file
-y Generate ps-file (default)
-z Generate pdf-file
-u Call userdefined conversion routine - You
may define a conversion routine of your own
if you need a particular output file format
Proof does not provide. (see your .proofrc
file on how to do this)
-s Skip viewing - Using this option causes that
Proof won't call the viewer to show changes.
Only the target file requested will be gen-
erated.
Each of the options listed above may be handed over also
in the sourcecode itself. (A valid sourcecode entry has to
be in the form of a LaTeX comment string and must be
placed on the first line, for example like this in LaTeX
documents
"\documentclass{article} % (-ab -u A5)"
or this in METAFONT/MetaPost sourcecode
"% (-ab2)".)
Proof looks for this entry each time a new preview cycle
is lauched, so there's no need to start Proof anew if you
wish to alter the settings you made at startup. Simply
enter the right option in the first line of your document
prior to saving the buffer content and Proof will show a
different image of your document! This method's also rec-
ommended if you intend to work on more than one file at
the same time, since it ensures that each document is pro-
cessed automatically in the right manner, even if you
don't remember the original settings any more. However, if
you'd like to make use of this feature, keep in mind that
this would make both additional small letter commandline
options (except -h and -v) and existing environmental set-
tings ineffective.
-T Leave preview mode and exit - Use this option to
close your editing session! Proof will check
whether the options -a and -b are set. You'll also
see a short list showing Proof's output.
-h Print help message
-v Print version information
NOTE
Omitting option -P when calling Proof haves the program
immediately terminate after the viewer is called. Use this
to create snapshots! It's also possible to view or convert
target files. "proof text.ps" for instance would simply
call the viewer needed to show the file's content, whereas
"proof -z text.ps" would prior to that create the corre-
sponding PDF version of the file referred to. (See your
.proofrc file on how to adjust a particular conversion
mechanism Proof uses.)
ENVIRONMENT
You may wish to use the environment variable PROOFOPTS to
adjust Proof's startup behaviour if neither commandline
options, nor sourcecode options are present. To do so, you
just have to build a string of those options you'd like to
be activated on startup. So "export PROOFOPTS='-P -fp';
proof text.tex" for instance would do exactly the same as
"proof -P -fp text.tex" when given on the commandline.
EXAMPLE
To prepare your PostScript document, let's say text.ps,
you might proceed as follows:
At first tell Proof which file to process, for instance by
typing "proof -P -fb text.tex" on the commandline. Proof
will then attempt to compile your sourcecode using your
formatfile mylatex as requested by handing over option -f,
and, if this worked out, call the viewer to show the com-
piler output. When this is done, call your favourite word
processing program and prepare your document as you nor-
mally would do.
Now, if your document has grown and you'd like to see a
snapshot of its current state, just save the editor's
buffer content to disk. Proof will notice when this hap-
pens and immediately update the image if the viewer's
still running respectively start the viewer anew if it has
been stopped by user intervention. (There are a few view-
ing programs however, like T. Theisen's 'Ghostview' for
instance, which don't support reopen requests sent by
external programs, so maybe you have to reopen the file by
hand in order to make recent changes visible.)
Finally, if your document has reached a definite state,
either type "proof -T text.tex" or simply hit 'Ctrl-C' in
Proof's active window. This tells Proof to save your
sourcefile text.tex according to the instructions fixed in
your .proofrc file and delete each of the auxiliary files
made during compilation. (To disable both commandline
options -f and -b (and any environmental settings too),
you would have to insert string "% (-)" in the first line
of your document.) Your PostScript document text.ps,
located in the current working directory, will be left
untouched.
The method of procedure's just the same as above described
when processing METAFONT and MetaPost sources instead.
Option -z however, causing Proof to produce PDF output,
will be in effect only when processing TeX sources.
FILES
proof Shellscript.
proofrc
Configuration file.
proof.1
Manual page.
REQUIREMENTS
Proof should work properly on UNIX conformable platforms
(i. e. Linux, BSD etc.) provided that there's an intact
TeX/LaTeX environment (http://www.ctan.org) and GNU bash
(Bourne Again Shell), version 2.03 or later
(http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/bash.html). The install
script provided with Proof will show some useful informa-
tion on this topic. See also this list of auxiliary pro-
grams Proof is known to work fine with: TeX (Web2C 7.3.1)
3.14159, e-TeX (Web2C 7.3.1) 3.14159-2.1, pdfTeX (Web2C
7.3.1) 3.14159-0.13d, pdfeTeX (Web2C 7.3.1)
3.14159-0.13d-2.1, Metafont (Web2C 7.3.1) 2.7182, MetaPost
(Web2C 7.3.1) 0.641, dvips v5.86, dvipdfm version 0.13.2c,
GNU ghostscript 7.05, gv 3.5.8, ghostview v1.5, xdvi(k)
version 22.05d-k, RCS version 5.7.
REPORTING BUGS
Please send bug reports or suggestions to kbosau@web.de.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2002 Klaus Bosau
This program can be redistributed and/or modified under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published
by the Free Software Foundation. (The exact wording can be
found at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.)
SEE ALSO
tex(1), etex(1), pdftex(1), pdfetex(1), dvi2pdfm(1),
dvipdf(1), mf(1), mpost(1), rcsintro(1), mpman.pdf, mpin-
tro.pdf, metafp.ps, mylatex.ltx, fontsmpl.dvi
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